BJP, Congress in Rajasthan get busy for bypolls to 5 Assembly seats

Jaipur, June 28 (IANS) Congress and BJP have begun preparing for the bypolls to five Assembly seats in Rajasthan which have to be held in the next six months. 

The seats are Dausa, Deoli-Uniyara, Jhunjhunu, Khinvsar and Chaurasi.

While Jhunjhunu, Deoli-Uniyara and Dausa were the seats held by Congress earlier, Khinvsar was occupied by its alliance partner RLP, and Chaurasi by the Bharat Adivasi Party. The seats have fallen vacant after the candidates won the Lok Sabha polls thus necessitating the bye-elections.

Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra has formed election committees and the BJP is busy strategising and working on the ground preparing for these bypolls.

According to the Congress party, each Assembly constituency will be overseen by a dedicated four-member committee tasked with coordinating and strategising the party's campaign efforts. The committees have been formed to facilitate meetings at the block, Mandal, and booth levels, ensuring direct engagement with grassroots workers, said state general secretary and spokesperson Swarnim Chaturvedi.

BJP spokesperson Laxmikant Bhardwaj said, “Our party started working for bypolls right after the announcement of results of Lok Sabha elections. "The ground situation is being reviewed in these five seats and we are confident of winning all five seats," he added.

The BJP party workers said that CM Bhajanlal Sharma’s programme in Jhunjhunu on Thursday was a step forward in preparations for the bypolls.

Thousands of pension beneficiaries were present in Jhunjhunu as the state government transferred Rs 1,037 crore to the bank accounts of 88 lakh pension beneficiaries in the state. Jhunjhunu was chosen to host the programme as bypolls are scheduled here too and is considered a tough seat for BJP, they added.

Looking at the history of bye-elections, Congress, in power or opposition, always has enjoyed an upper hand. In the last 10 years, the bye-elections have been held in 20 Assembly and two Lok Sabha seats. Congress has won 14 Assembly seats and two Lok Sabha seats. The BJP won four Assembly seats, RLP and the BAP one seat each.

During the previous Gehlot government, bye-elections were held in nine Assembly seats from 2019 to 2022, out of which Congress won seven seats. Congress had won Mandawa, Sujangarh, Sardarshahar, Sahada, Dhariyavad, Vallabhnagar and Ramgarh seats while BJP won Rajsamand and RLP won Khinvsar seat bye-elections.

From 2014 to 2018, Congress won Nasirabad, Vaira, Suratgarh and Mandalgarh seats despite a strong Modi wave, while BJP could only win Dholpur and Kota South seats. In the 2013 Assembly elections, the BJP won 163 seats out of a total of 200.

--IANS

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